Seneca wrote an entire essay, On the Shortness of Life, arguing that life isn't actually short, we just spend most of it on things that don't count as living. His line for it is something like: we aren't given a short life, we make it short by how we spend it. He wasn't talking about laziness. He was talking about people who are constantly, visibly busy, buried in errands, obligations, other people's emergencies, anything that fills the hours without ever being chosen on purpose. His point was that being occupied and being alive are not the same thing, and most people only notice the difference once it's too late to do much about it. That's basically the entire feeling of adulting, isn't it. The to do list that regenerates itself the moment you finish it. The sense that you're managing a life instead of living one. Seneca's answer wasn't "do less," it was closer to "notice what's actually yours versus what's just noise wearing a deadline." Some of what fills your week is genuinely load-bearing. A lot of it is just motion that got mistaken for progress because it was urgent. What's one thing you cut out of your routine that turned out to be exactly that, urgent but never actually necessary? And what filled the space it left behind?

So yeah… I just turned 25 today , and honestly, not a single person has wished me so far. Not family, not friends. I didn’t expect a big celebration or anything, but it still kinda hurts when even a “happy birthday” doesn’t come from anyone.

Just needed to let it out somewhere. Feels weird growing older but feeling invisible at the same time.

And how old are you and how long do you have, context etc…

Curious - tomorrow is payday for most of us. What’s the first thing your check will be going towards? What do you wish it could go towards?

I’ve always wondered about this. People say God sees everything and that everyone eventually gets what they deserve. But in real life, we see kind people struggling despite doing nothing wrong, while some people who hurt others seem to live perfectly happy lives.
Some believe it’s karma, some say everything happens according to God’s plan, and others believe there’s no divine justice at all.
I’m curious to hear different perspectives, whether you’re religious, spiritual, or an atheist.
Do you believe there’s a God who ensures justice, or have humans created the idea of God to make sense of a world that often seems unfair? Why?

M 36, never been in a relationship. I wanna know if there's someone here like me. Maybe compare lives.

Edit: i guess there's nobody like me here since most of you are saying "I'm single x years now, after my divorce".... or are very young or at least have some contact... that's not my case, I've NEVER even dated or kissed a girl

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, how is it possible to live on minimum wage in 2026? I’m currently working full time for $43 an hour and have the opportunity to make over-time quite often, which I do take when I can…and there’s currently $2.76 in my bank account. I don’t feel that I live lavishly…I live in a Canadian small town, own an 800 square foot 100 year old house, and own two moderately “nice” vehicles. My husband recently immigrated to Canada so I’m the only source of income at the moment, but I still feel like we should be better off than we are. I do shop here and there and we eat out sometimes, but most evenings and days off are spent in my house reading a library book. I usually don’t even eat dinner, maybe pizza pops or ritz crackers from Costco. Just makes me think, how are people making $16 an hour getting by? If I’m struggling having this supposedly well paying job, I can’t even imagine what it’s like otherwise.

I'm 24 and my parent has always been strict so l'm not allowed to ever go anywhere. These strict rules have prevented me from making friends. But this year l'm definitely wanting to go out bc Halloween is on a Saturday and I want to have fun. The thing is I will be alone without friends so how am I supposed to have fun when everyone else will be out with their friend groups? Plus it's NYC so everyone is really gonna be with their groups. Is it not worth going out bc the whole point of Halloween is to have fun with friends but I won't have anyone to hang out with?
But I don't want to miss out on going out either. Idk.
Any advice?

Typical whiny adulting rant, but I need to get this out.

I posted a harmless joke on Reddit today and was genuinely surprised by how much anger and hate it attracted. I know it's just the internet, but it reminded me how exhausting people can be.

I've had my kindness taken advantage of, my trust betrayed, and good intentions twisted into something ugly. I've tried helping strangers, supporting friends, and putting a little positivity into the world. Sometimes it feels like none of it matters.

I'm far from perfect, and I know there are plenty of wonderful people out there. I just wish kindness didn't feel like such an uphill battle. I don't want to become bitter or stop seeing the good in people. I'm slowly learning that I can't fix all the anger in the world, and maybe that's okay.

I may never change the world, but I can still make someone's day a little better. And maybe that's enough.

Hey everyone! I'm looking to meet new people who are open-minded, comfortable talking about relationships, attraction, flirting, and mature topics. I'm cool with casual conversations too, and I'd prefer people who respect boundaries and can keep a conversation interesting.

18+ only. If you're interested, feel free to comment or DM me! 😊

I’m an adult male with a professional job, 401k, wife, all the adult stuff, and I’ll be damned if farts are not still hilarious. It’s funny to see someone fart and get all socially squirmish/awkward or conversely get all proud and own it. Like how funny is it that we involuntarily have a loud noise come out an intimate part of our body that sometimes smells bad. Hilarious designing by the all mighty. Like ohhh just because I’m a serious “adult” I can’t still find it funny? Ok boomer

That’s all.

pretty much what it says. roommate kicked out other roommate out in a rage before rent was paid, now somehow the responsibility has fallen to me to pay the missing rent. has anyone had a roommate kick another roommate out with no warning and then been placed to cover the bill? feels like she should pay all his missing rent.

for context i didn’t know this new person prior to moving in however she has been his friend for years. she told me she didn’t want to get a stranger from craigslist and to trust her with finding our third roommate. she also lied about his criminal charges which included violent domestic crimes. when i confronted her about this she changed the story and said she didn’t know. if you look the man’s name up multiple charges come up indicating exactly what he was charged with. i’m considering letting us both get evicted and moving in with my boyfriend or my sister since my roommate has no way of paying the rent she kicked out of our house when she was angry. also, she thinks i can pay it because i sometimes borrow money from my mom (that i always pay back, so no i can’t do an unlimited amount of given money, and no i’m not some rich kid.). the money my mom lends to me is my dead fathers life insurance money, and my mom is older and doesn’t work so she’s living off that. i feel insulted that she wanted me to ask my mom to use my dead dads money to pay for her mistake (and her lie). it’s not my issue she’s almost 30 and 8k a month wasn’t enough for her. i’m currently not employed as i’m waiting for my job to start in november, however i was paid up on everything until she kicked him out and doubled what i need to pay for with no job currently. what would you do?

All my little stresses boiled over and I’m finding it really hard to want to keep going.

I don’t even really have anyone left to talk to because my obligations and responsibilities kind of just pushed out the small social network that I had.

I know these things come and go, but I’m exhausted and this ride doesn’t seem to end and I just want to stop for a little while.

(I am not in danger, just at my wit’s end.)

31F. Growing up, I was never one of the girls that fit in with a friend group. I had a good number of friends, but almost always preferred one on one time. Now as an adult, I find myself in a group with three other women. After almost 8 years of monthly dinners, marriages, babies, loss, and so many other seasons of life shared together . . . I am over the moon annoyed with them.

Over the past 6 months, they have all reached out individually to share their concern for my lack of engagement in the group chat and individually. With two small kiddos, I'm not typically on my phone and reply when I can.

Are there moments when I see the text and decide not to respond right away, yes. But I if I'm being honest, the lack of support or interest in the ideas and responses I do send don't make me feel very eager to engage.

To provide some examples, there have been occasions when we've picked a date/time weeks in advance. A couple days prior, someone says they need to change it. Everyone replies quickly, decides a new day/time, and I reply after work saying that the new option doesn't work for me. Rather than keeping the original play, I'm told I'll be missed and they'll see me next time.

Last month, I pitched the idea of taking a yoga class together but everyone said they wanted to save money and spend some quality time together. The day before, one of the gals says we should do dinner and a movie instead. Without hesitation, everyone else says yes and I'm stuck deciding if I remain a people please or not. To make things even worse, this get together was the day before my birthday and not a single person acknowledged it until later on day-of by sending a text. Meanwhile, we've all pitched in to get flowers or plan a little something for some of the others.

I want to share these frustrations with them, but I feel like they have zero awareness or concerns with the current flow of our little group. While I know I should be a grown up about it and speak my mind - I've decided to share my hurt here and ask. Any advice? Thoughts?